He grinned and turned to his wife, gesturing to her to add her bit.
‘There isn’t much more,’ she said in a small voice, her eyes on the floor. ‘Richie helped me get Ganesh to our room. After that, I locked the door and went to bed. I woke up a little before Ganesh, but I just lazed about in bed, and got up when he did. Then we came here.’
She looked up briefly and flashed an imploring glance at Athreya. It seemed to him that she was entreating him not to cross-question her. He obliged and nodded. After a pause, Abbas cleared his throat and spoke.
‘That leaves Richie and me, I guess,’ he said. ‘Let me go first. Listen, I never once looked at my watch all evening and all night. What’s the point of attending a party if you are going to be a prisoner to time? That’s not my style. I’m not going to pretend that I know what I did when or what time I went to bed, for the simple reason that I don’t.
‘I wandered out of the mansion about fifteen minutes after we broke up, and must have walked around for an hour or so. I was feeling full after the feast, and had to walk around a little bit before hitting the sack. Sometime in between, I met Michelle at Sunset Deck, and we chatted for a while.
‘After she left, I wandered around for a little more and smoked a ciggy or two before returning to my room. It was a great party, Mr Athreya, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. It’s truly unfortunate that Phillip has been killed, but there is nothing I can do about it. A nice man, he was. My neighbour, you know. He lived across the mud road from the resort. I’ll miss him.’
‘Where all did you wander, Abbas?’ Athreya asked mildly.
‘Oh, here and there. All over the place. It’s not a huge place, you know, and the fog was impenetrable. I stuck to the walkways because I knew that they would lead me back to my room, even if I could see nothing else.’
‘Never stepped off the walkways?’
‘Don’t think so.’
‘Did you happen to overhear any conversations? We have just learnt about two conversations, apart from the one you had with Michelle.’
‘If I did, I don’t remember. Listen, there were voices here and there, but I didn’t eavesdrop.’
Which meant he did, Athreya thought.
‘Your cigarettes,’ he asked, ‘do you have them on you now?’
‘Sure.’
Abbas pulled out a packet of More cigarettes and showed it to Athreya. The cigarettes were slim and dark brown in colour.
‘Did anyone borrow your cigarettes?’ Athreya asked.
‘No, why do you ask?’
‘Just curious.’
‘The only other person who smokes is Ganesh, but he prefers stronger stuff.’
‘Do you know if Phillip smoked? I thought you might know as he was your neighbour.’
‘No, he didn’t. Said he had been a chain-smoker in his younger days, but he cut the habit seven years ago when he moved here.’
Abbas’s eyes were searching Athreya’s face, but the latter kept it pleasantly expressionless.
‘Thank you, Abbas,’ he said and turned to Richie expectantly.
‘I have nothing to say, Mr. Detective, if that’s indeed what you are,’ the younger man drawled. He was leaning back nonchalantly in his chair, with one leg draped over an armrest. ‘You offered me a wager, and I have decided to take it. Then why should I help you win?’
‘Richie!’ Bhaskar snapped.
‘I know what you are going to say, Uncle,’ Richie responded, turning towards Bhaskar. ‘But I have no information of any value for Mr. Athreya. After escorting Ganesh to his room, I returned to the mansion and went to bed.’
‘You?’ Bhaskar demanded. ‘To bed so early?’
‘Why not, Uncle? It had been a busy day. Besides, I had no intention of falling into the stream and breaking my neck in the fog. Like that Englishman who died.’
‘And you stayed in your room for the rest of the night, Richie?’ Athreya asked mildly.
‘Of course.’
‘Never left it?’
‘Why should I?’
‘Just asking. If you wish to change your testimony, do let me know.’
‘That leaves only me,’ Bhaskar rumbled slowly. ‘I probably have the least to tell you, despite the fact that my room is the closest to the chapel. As you know, I was the first to retire, and once I got off the wheelchair, I was more or less bound to the bed. It had been a tiring day for me. I’m afraid I have little to offer.’
‘That’s fine. Did you happen to hear anything during the night?’
‘I hear things every night, Mr. Athreya, real and imagined. I don’t know which is which. After the intruder’s attack, I seldom sleep deeply. I keep my automatic under my pillow, you know. The slightest sound disturbs my sleep. Sometimes, I find that the sound was only inside my head.’
‘Did you hear anything last night?’
‘Yes…people walking, laughter, voices in the mist, doors closing and opening, Murugan locking up for the night, Sebastian retiring, many things. But now that I think about it, I think I did hear the whir of my wheelchair sometime during the night. I can’t say when. I thought I had imagined it, and decided that the whir was only inside my head.’
‘Why did you think you had imagined it, Mr. Fernandez?’
‘Who would touch my wheelchair, Mr. Athreya? It’s been around for a while, and it gets charged every night. It’s never been touched before. But it turns out that I was wrong. Somebody did take it.’
Athreya sat back and considered the facts. Everyone had returned to his or her room by 1 a.m. Each one of them had claimed that they had not left their room after that. By 2 a.m., they
